The present invention relates to a ventilating hood for placement over a source of heat and smoke, such as a kitchen range, to remove and exhaust heat and smoke from the area. More particularly, the present invention relates to a ventilating range hood having a number of selectable exhaust paths.
It is conventional in modern homes for a ventilating range hood to be provided over the kitchen stove to remove smoke and heat produced during cooking. Typically, a ventilating range hood will have a hood shell with an intake opening in the bottom and a fan or blower assembly for drawing heated air and smoke into the intake. In exhausing the heated air and smoke from the range hood, it is generally preferred to provide an exhaust path through the top of the hood shell by attaching a large cylindrical duct to the hood shell and extending ductwork upwardly through the building structure to the outside. However, it is oftentimes the case that the structural arrangement of the building or residence does not permit an exhaust duct to be extended through the space above. For example, necessary structural members may be extending above the range hood, a second-story room may be positioned above the range hood, or storage cabinets may be built-in above the range hood. Accordingly, it becomes necessary to provide alternate exhaust paths for the range hood.
It is often the case that an upwardly directed exhaust path through a top vent in the range hood can be provided by a rectangular vent duct offset toward the rear of the top cover of the range hood and connected to an upwardly extending rectangular duct. A second alternative is to provide a rearwardly directed exhaust path through the back of the range hood by providing an opening in the back wall of the enclosure to which a vent duct can be affixed. Finally, a forwardly directed exhaust path may be provided through the front wall of the range hood.
As each of the different exhaust paths enumerated above are often encountered, it has heretofore been necessary for manufacturers of ventilating range hoods to provide a separate model adapted for use in a particular exhaust path mode. The result of having a number of different range hood models is that inventory control for manufacturers, dealers and builders is made more difficult.
Therefore, a ventilating range hood that provides a number of selectable exhaust paths is a single model would be most desirable.